The WBC has turned to its ‘franchise champion’ Canelo Alvarez to fight for the vacant super-middleweight title. Alvarez’s plans to fight this year have failed multiple times. However, it is highly likely that he will face mandatory title challenger Avni Yildirim in the near future.

Alvarez has been looking for an opponent to fight this year. The 30-year old last stepped inside the ring against Sergey Kovalev in November last year. There were plans for him to fight for the WBO super middleweight title against Billy Joe Saunders earlier this year in May. The fight, however, couldn’t happen due to the pandemic.

Subsequently, there were plans for Alvarez to return in September. However, concerns regarding money and the lack of a worthy opponent played the spoiler. Amidst all this, the super middleweight champ, David Benavidez, was stripped of his title last week. Although he won his fight against Roamer Alexis Angulo, he came in over the limit on the scale.

Thereafter, the WBC Board of Governors voted 36-1 today to order Canelo Alvarez to fight mandatory Avni Yildirim.

Avni Yildirim shouldn’t be a tough challenge for Canelo Alvarez

A native of Turkey, Avni Yildirim isn’t someone you would expect to give a lot of trouble to one of the sport’s biggest stars. The 29-year-old has the record stacked against him in big moments of his career. Chris Eubank Jr floored him in the third round of their meeting in 2018. In his last fight, he received the short end of the stick of a debatable decision against Anthony Dirrell.

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However, his position as the mandatory challenger has garnered him the chance to go toe-to-toe with the sport’s most lucrative star.

For Alvarez, this could serve as a tune-up fight for bigger challenges that may await him next year. There have been speculations of his trilogy with Gennady Golovkin. Moreover, his name has been linked with Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, and Ireland’s Jason Quigley. His promoter had recently revealed that Alvarez wants to fight overseas to increase his fan-base.

Despite the WBC ordering the Mexican to fight, it will be interesting to see how DAZN responds to the situation. Alvarez’s eleven fight 365-million deal with the streaming service is the biggest in boxing history. Hence, they will have the challenge of putting up a good enough card to sell the event given the quality of Alvarez’s contender.